The nerd-baptism of watching a new Star Wars movie for the first time is, to quote a certain Supreme Leader, “some­thing truly special.” The antic­i­pa­tion, the chills, that stir­ring feeling in your gut… there’s nothing else like it.

The notion that things “happen for a reason” is a powerful idea. It is also a dangerous one. The concept of “agency” is so central to our under­standing of ourselves and our world that we apply it even where there is no agency to be found.